Saving Zechs
by E.J. Works
Summary: Zechs has been captured, Noin is incharge of his rescue and gets the help of Heero Yuy. However there's a bit of trouble when Heero is in a car crash and thinks he and Noin are married. Mean while Wufei and Sally have to endure a noise neighbor during a s
1. Default Chapter

Saving Zechs  
  
By Tira Yuy  
  
  
  
  
  
This story was inspired by when some one asked for a Heero/Noin fic at the web site alternatives.   
  
  
  
Title:Saving Zechs   
  
Author: Tira Yuy   
  
Editor: West Wind   
  
Pairings:1x9, 5xS, implied 6x9, and maybe more later.   
  
Warnings: My worped humor, vilence, and possably gore later on.   
  
Chapter one ```````````````````   
  
*L4 199 AC-three years after the series ends*   
  
Looking over at Noin through the darkness, Heero weighed her words. "Are you sure, this is a   
  
very risky plan."   
  
Noin nodded, "I don't have enough time to do it any other way." Lowering her head, Noin   
  
struggled to get her emotions under control before pleading, "This is the only way to get Zechs   
  
back alive. Please, will you help me?"   
  
Heero studied Noin, she looked like she hadn't slept in days. Her hair was tangled, and he had   
  
the impression that she had only ran her fingers through it instead of combing it. 'And just   
  
how much worse are you, Zechs?' Heero silently asked of his old nemeses in his mind. Standing up  
  
, Heero walked over to where Noin sat on a crate in the condemned building.   
  
"I'll help," he said quietly handing her a handkerchief.   
  
Saying nothing, Noin took the offered white garment and wiped her eyes. A few tears had trickled   
  
down her chin before she was aware she had been crying. Squiring her shoulders, she stood up   
  
straight. 'Get a grip!' Noin told herself. "I'll meet with you tomorrow morning 5:00 A.M.   
  
outside of the Winner shopping center," she said to Heero, whowas now heading for the hole in   
  
the wall that he had entered through. Heero checked for anyone passing by before he responded.   
  
"I'll be there."   
  
  
  
Heero waved for her to come to the hole, and Noin stealthily came forward to his side. Looking   
  
out herself, she saw that it was clear and discreetly left. Making sure that there was nothing   
  
to tell of his meeting with the secret agent of Preventers, Heero too covertly left wondering  
  
what the next day held for him.   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Winner shopping center," Heero ordered the taxi driver as he entered the cab and sat down.   
  
The taxi driver was an old man covered in tattoos. Moving the rearview mirror, he muttered a   
  
"Sure bud" and pealed out away from the curb. Heero was thrown off balance and hit the other   
  
side of the cab door with his shoulder. Letting out a grunt of pain, he tried to sit up and put   
  
on his seat belt. The taxi car went rushing around a corner sending Heero to the left side of   
  
the cab. Another corner, he fell to the right.   
  
"Slower!" he shouted finally sitting up with his belt on.   
  
"Sure, sure," the driver shouted over the roar of the car, but he didn't slow down.   
  
Looking up to yell at the driver, Heero saw a red building become larger as it seemed to come at  
  
them. 'No, we're coming at it,' he thought before the yellow cab hit the building and things   
  
went black for him.   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Poor deary," Noin heard the elderly lady's voice through a haze.   
  
"How long do you think she's been sitting there?" another voice this one belonging to a man   
  
asked.   
  
"Goodness, I'd say since this morning," the lady's voice spoke again.   
  
"Who is she here for?" the man questioned.   
  
"Her husband, a Mr. Lowe, I heard the Doctor say," the woman said as Noin opened her eyes and   
  
saw a bright pink skirt move in the chair across from herself .   
  
'What kind of name is Lowe?' Noin asked of her still fuzzy mind.   
  
"She wept for an hour before falling asleep, the poor thing," said the lady's voice coming from   
  
the skirt.   
  
The smell of medicine and floor cleaners engulfed Noin's nose and turned her stomach. Sitting   
  
up, she looked around and saw she was in a hospital waiting room.   
  
'Lowe...maybe it's Aisin.'   
  
Stretching in the cushioned chair she rubbed her neck.   
  
"Lowe!" she nearly shouted as the last four days, starting with Zechs' disappearance, came back   
  
to her. Blue eyes wide, Noin looked around franticly for a doctor to question.   
  
"There, there. Calm your self, Luv."   
  
The woman in the bright pink skirt was standing in front of Noin. The elderly woman's wrinkled   
  
hand was resting on hers.   
  
"The doctor was here a few minutes ago and said she'd be back after doing her rounds," the woman   
  
said as Noin realized she must look like a wreck.   
  
"Thank you," Noin said licking her chapped lips, she could really use some coffee.   
  
With a final pat, the pink skirted woman went back to her seat. As the conversation came back   
  
to her, Noin started to piece it together.   
  
'She thought I was crying over Heero,' remembering the way she had been upset after hearing   
  
about the wreck Heero had been in on his way to meet her. 'Best they think that way,' she   
  
decided feeling a bit of guilt for balling over Zechs so much and how things were ruined for   
  
Zechs' rescue without any real thought to Heero's condition.   
  
Glancing around, Noin spotted a group of nurses a few feet away. Getting up, Noin went to speak  
  
with them.   
  
"Excuse me, do you know where H-," Noin stopped herself from saying Heero Yuy. Correcting   
  
herself, she used the name that she and Heero had agreed upon for their mission.   
  
"Oden Lowe is? He was brought in from a car wreck."   
  
A pretty red head nodded, "Yes, Mrs. Lowe, he's in room thirty-seven B. Doctor Winner said you   
  
could see him, but he's not awake yet."   
  
"Oh, thank you," Noin was still not use to answering by her code name. Her puzzled look must   
  
have given the young nurse the wrong impression.   
  
"Would you like me to go with you? I know it can be scary sometimes...," she left the offer   
  
hanging in the air.   
  
"No... No, that's alright, just point me in the right direction," Noin responded glancing   
  
around.   
  
After getting the directions, Noin headed for Heero's room, expecting the worst but hoping for   
  
the best.   
  
Sally had once told her how Heero was able to escape a Fedy controlled hospital while under   
  
arrest, even if Duo had helped. And from Duo, she had learned how Heero fixed his own broken   
  
leg. 'Perhaps there is still hope,' she thought finding the door with 37B on it.   
  
Taking in a deep a breath Noin entered. 


	2. Saving Zechs 2

Saving Zechs  
  
By Tira Yuy  
  
  
  
Chapter two   
  
`````````````````   
  
Opening the door, Noin entered quietly. The small 9' x10' room was painted in off white, and   
  
the floors had the same nauseating bleached clean smell as in the waiting room.   
  
  
  
There were two beds, only one was occupied. Going to that one and pulling the chair beside it   
  
closer, Noin sat down. Heero had a head bandage covering his forehead and most of the top,   
  
but his crazy brown hair escaped in some places. His right arm was in a cast and looked to her   
  
to be the worst of the damage.   
  
"Wake up," Noin whispered to him gently pushing on his good shoulder. "I need you for this   
  
mission."   
  
  
  
He didn't stir at all.   
  
  
  
'I'm sorry Zechs' she thought with more then a little amount of pain. 'I failed you.'   
  
  
  
"Who are you?" Heero asked, his mouth felt so dry and his vision was blurry as he woke up.   
  
  
  
Noin blinked, "It's me, Noin." 'He looks so confused,' she thought as his dark blue eyes roved   
  
around the room.   
  
"Noin," He said practicing the name on his lips. looking around he tried to piece together   
  
where he was and how he got here.   
  
"That's right, come on I need you to-"   
  
  
  
"Oh, excuse me Mrs. Lowe."   
  
  
  
Noin looked up to the door that had opened and found Dr. Winner standing there looking at her   
  
and Heero.   
  
"I can give you two a few moments alone, but I really do need to examine Mr. Lowe now that he's   
  
awake." Dr. Iria Winner looked at the couple with deep compassion.   
  
  
  
Standing Noin shook her head no. She wanted to have Heero up and out of here as soon as   
  
possible. "Go ahead and examine him, please."   
  
As Noin began to move away from Heero's side, his hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.   
  
  
  
"Don't go," Heero smiled up at Noin.   
  
  
  
Taken off guard, Noin stood perfectly still and stared down at him. 'I've never seen him   
  
smile,' she thought, his touch feeling strange and foreign.   
  
Moving closer, Iria pulled out the clipboard from the foot of Heeros' bed and read from it   
  
briefly. 'What an awful way to spend ones honeymoon' Iria thought as she remembered a comment   
  
one of the nurses had made on her way in here.   
  
  
  
"So, Mr. Lowe, how bad is your headache?" Iria questioned, wishing she had given the couple   
  
some alone time.   
  
Confused Heero looked around the small room, there was only himself and the two young ladies   
  
in there. "Am...I... Mr. Lowe?" he finally asked. The Noin woman frowned and the light brown   
  
hair of the doctor bounced as she came closer.   
  
"Yes, you are Mr. Odin Lowe, and this," Iria touched Noin's shoulder, "is your wife Mrs. Noin   
  
Lowe."   
  
After making a note on her clipboard of paper, she looked back at the young man.   
  
"Can you give me today's date?" Pulling out her flash light that looked like a pen she flashed  
  
it into Heeros' eyes.   
  
Noin stood in shock as she watched Heero's face. He hadn't just forgotten his cover but lost   
  
his memory.   
  
"Ehh, Excuse me," she murmured as she slipped out the door. Going for the women's rest room,   
  
Noin felt like she would throw up.   
  
  
  
Entering the room, she checked to make sure she was alone, she was. Pausing, Noin put a hand to   
  
her rolling stomach and tried calming herself.   
  
  
  
"Maybe I can get us some more time," she spoke to herself pulling out her mini phone.   
  
"Is every thing set?" Lady Une's voice asked before her face came up on the small screen.   
  
  
  
"Every thing but Heero," Noin said to her commanding officer. "I need more time."   
  
  
  
Une shook her head. "I can't give it to you, agent Wind's captors said they wouldn't give any   
  
more time then until Midnight 6 days from now."   
  
"What about agents Water and Storm, are they in place?" Noin asked of Sally and her partner   
  
Wufei.   
  
  
  
"Their cover has been put together, and they are stationed already." Une took a deep breath,   
  
"I'm not going to give in to the terrorist. Wind knew the danger he was putting his life in when   
  
he joined and took his last mission."   
  
Noin prepared herself for what she knew Une would say next.   
  
  
  
"If Heero won't help, or you can't find anyone else then I'll say no to the terrorist, and that   
  
will be the end of it."   
  
Une didn't look too happy with herself.   
  
  
  
"And the end of Zechs," Noin said angrily.   
  
  
  
Une looked back at Noin with disapproval and some anger of her own. "Don't use that tone with me   
  
Lt!"   
  
"Yes Ma'am" Noin toned down her voice "But what about every one else who'll be blown up?" She   
  
tried another plea.   
  
"That is my responsibility. You have been given your orders, I expect to see them carried out.   
  
Dismissed!" Une's last word was nearly shouted as she turned off her connection on the special   
  
two way phone.   
  
'She's just as worried' The thought did nothing to comfort her as Noin headed back to Heero's   
  
room. Not feeling at all prepared.   
  
Once back in the room, Noin saw that Heero was sleeping again. Dr.Winner was sitting in the   
  
chair waiting for her.   
  
"Better?" the doctor asked with concern written all over her face.   
  
  
  
Nodding, Noin worked at looking liked the worried wife.   
  
  
  
"He doesn't even look all that badly hurt, so why can't he remember..." she started to say the   
  
mission but caught herself, "me?"   
  
Iria stood up and walked over to her. "There is some swelling of the brain. The memory loss is   
  
only temporary," Iria smiled softly.   
  
"Temporary?" Noin asked with hope. "For how long?"   
  
Iria shook her head. "A week, possibly three. You'll have to be patient with him. When people   
  
are in physical pain, they tend to be pickier and have more mood swings than they normally   
  
would. Being unsure of who he is on top of that will cause some other problems."   
  
Moving her gaze to where the object of conversation slept soundly, Noin racked her brain. 'I   
  
need him tonight, tomorrow at the latest,' she thought with some frustration.   
  
"What does he remember?" Noin asked.   
  
  
  
"Most things like the date, who's president, how a car works, and any thing else like that he   
  
already knew. Just his memory of who he is, his past, and those he knows are blocked due to   
  
where the swelling of the brain accured," Doctor Iria responded.   
  
  
  
Noin wanted to know if that list of things he remembered included taking apart missiles. But   
  
refreand from asking.   
  
'Perhaps we can still pull it off,' Noin thought, with a small smile spreading across her face.   
  
  
  
"That's better," Iria said cheerfully as she watched Noin's face brighten. "His arm is broken   
  
and will have to stay in the cast for a long while, but other then that he's just fine. Given   
  
enough TLC, of course."   
  
Lo   
  
oking down to make sure her notes were all in order, Iria put the clip board back in the slot at  
  
the foot of Heeros' bed.   
  
"The cafeteria is just bellow," she said looking back up at Noin. "You won't do Mr. Lowe any   
  
good if you don't eat."   
  
Blinking at the doctor, Noin felt her stomach growl. Despite the tor mole it had been in most of  
  
the day food was a very pleasant idea.   
  
"I'll go in a minute," Noin promised gazing once more at Heero.   
  
  
  
"Right, then I'll leave you love birds alone." Smiling Iria left, unknowingly leaving a   
  
startled Noin behind. 


	3. chapter 3

~~~~~~~Chapter three~~~~~~~  
  
*L1*  
  
Aching Zechs opened his eyes; the room was so dark he might as well have kept them closed.  
  
He was so drowsy; 'they drugged me,' he thought through the fog of his mind.   
  
Feeling pain shoot up from his broken knee, Zechs wished they would be back with more drugs soon. However, instead of closing his eyes and wishing for relief, as was his first instinct, Zechs   
  
used his pain to stay focused.   
  
'Who.... are they?' he asked of his mind trying to remember the last few hours before he had lost  
  
consciousness.  
  
Though the fog on his mind was not lifting, he remembered following someone.   
  
'I was following the man from the vacation resort. The one who had been watching me all day,' Zechs recalled; trying to move his hands he realized they were tied behind his back. The ropes binding his hands to the back of the chair and his feet to the legs were so tight he could barely feel his limbs.  
  
'He had been following me around.... spoke to people I had... been questioning.'   
  
Zechs' busted right leg was throbbing with pain now as the drugs that had been fogging his mind finally wore off.  
  
Remembering how he had been unimpressed with the tanned man who was trailing him, Zechs had been under the impression that his shadow was a rookie. Easily losing him, Zechs had then begun to follow the hunter. But then, Zechs had been led to a dead end, where four other men waited to beat the crap out of him.  
  
Feeling his head starting to ache too, he remembered they had done a good job.   
  
Before his capture, Zechs had learned of stolen, self-destruct, Alliance missiles, the kind used if their bases were about to be captured.  
  
The particular missiles that Zechs was concerned with had somehow been sold on the black market. Who now claimed ownership and how he planned to use them, Zechs had been still digging for.   
  
Once again trying to focus in the dark and wishing for painkillers, Zechs began devising an escape.  
  
"Noin" his voice cracked a bit "If I've ever needed you, it's now," Zechs said into the empty room while picturing in his mind's eye the one person who had never failed him.  
  
--------------------------  
  
*Across the street*  
  
"Any movement?" Sally asked her partner as she sat down bags of food on a small counter.   
  
"None," Wufei replied from his place on the couch.   
  
Leaning over the back of the couch to watch the building across the street, Wufei saw Sallys' reflection in the window. She was taking off her coat and he saw the hilt of her gun poking out from her belt.  
  
As he watched her reflection turn around to search in one of the bags, he turned sideways and poked at the box of the so-called Chinese food from the deli that was sitting beside him. Wufei made a sour face, "did you get any real food?"   
  
Sally laughed because she hated the deli stuff too. It was nothing like what her father made.  
  
"I'm going to make some rice balls." It was the only traditional Chinese dish Sally had ever learned to cook. A fact, at moments like these, she regretted. As she pulled out cheap junk food, (it was just about all she could afford on their budget), she glanced at Wufei.  
  
Pushing away the deli box, Wufei's stomach growled. "It'll do."   
  
As movement caught Wufei's well-trained eyes, he pulled out his binoculars and looked once more at the entrance across the street. "We have someone!" he called out to Sally. "This one is new."  
  
Grabbing her camera off of the end table at Wufei's elbow, Sally too focused on the door and started snapping away. "Come on... look up," Sally pleaded as she rapidly got picture after picture of the man, but none of them with his face.   
  
"He can't hear you," Wufei said as he watched the man going in without complying with Sally's wish.  
  
Putting her camera down Sally nodded. "Which is a good thing, even if I didn't get a face shot," she said with some disappointment. The first activity they'd had in the last seven hours of staking out the old rundown building and they could not identify him. It was enough to make Sally pull her hair out infrustration. With a Chinese curse spoken under her breath she rapped her nuckles on the table top.   
  
"I got a look at him," Wufei said hearing Sally's curse. He did not like seeing her so dissapointed. She usually kept him from losing his patience at having to wait, so having her become so downcast was not something he would take lying down. "I'll record my description on tape and send it into a sketch artist."   
  
As Wufei started to get up, Sally pushed him back down and sat in his lap. "I have a better idea," she said smiling into his dark eyes that she loved so much.   
  
Leaning in for a kiss, Sally wrapped her arms around him.   
  
Ding-dong!  
  
Jerking up at the sound of the doorbell, Wufei almost sent his partner and fiancée to the floor.   
  
Catching herself, Sally grabbed for her gun from where she kept it behind her back. Looking at Wufei, who also had his gun drawn, the two headed for the door.  
  
Ding-Dong the bell went again, this time accompanied by a woman's "Yoo-hoo!! Anyone home?!"  
  
Recognizing the voice of their new neighbor, Mrs. Drake, Sally sighed and handed her gun to Wufei.   
  
"Get those out of sight, and I'll deal with her," Sally said as she reached the door.  
  
Glad he would not have to deal with the overbearing, noisy, and big mouthed widow, Wufei took the guns to the bedroom.   
  
There was another window in that room where he could go back to watching the building suspected to contain agent Wind. However, Wufei wished that he could be carrying out Sally's "Better idea."   
  
"Hello, Mrs. Drake," Sally greeted the widow with a smile. The older woman was lonely and came bythree or four times a day just to gossip. 'It's almost noon, Widow Drake must be done getting the latest scoop from the hair salon early,' Sally thought as the woman of her thoughts greeted her.  
  
"Oh hello, Sally, dear" Myrtle Drake greeted the young woman as she peeked in and around Sally. "Where's that brother of yours?" she inquired as she managed to push her way in.  
  
Sally stifled a sigh as she tried to be the gracious hostess. "Wufei is out right now. Did you wish to see him?"   
  
Myrtle frowned in disappointment, she had hoped to corner Wufei and fill him in on all of Violet's good points. 'Just as well,' She thought. 'He would have proubly found a way out of it.' "Today I found out that Miss Shermen's niece is coming all the way from L2."   
  
Shaking her bleached blonde head, the forty-seven year old, trying to look twenty, woman went into one of her long-winded gossiping sessions.   
  
"Miss Shermen could never catch a man because she just wasn't very soft on the eyes. But let me tell you, Violet Shermen is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met. Now she's not just long legs and eyelashes either, she was a straight A student. She moved all the way to L2 because of her work."   
  
Myrtle stopped long enough to get a breath. "I can't quite recall what she does, something about studding space travel, but that doesn't really matter."   
  
The woman was now waving both of her hands frantically back and forth. Sally got ready for Myrtle's exclamation. "She's just perfect for Wufei! I Just know the two would fall head-over-heals in love if I could get the two of them in the same room."  
  
In the four days since Sally and Wufei had moved in posing as half-brother and -sister, Myrtle Drake had been trying to play matchmaker with Wufe. This was the second girl that she had got stuck in her mind would be perfect for Wufei.  
  
Of all of Myrtle Drakes character flaws this was the only one Sally had a hard time being gracious about.  
  
"Now Sally, dear, you've just got to help me!" Myrtle whined as she put a hand on Sally's shoulder. "I know the last one didn't turn out so well but I promise this one will be different. All I need you to do is get that brother of yours to stay in the same room long enough for me to introduce him to Violet."  
  
Before Sally could think of a way to stall Mrs. Drake, she heard a loud crash and Wufei letting out a string of curses. 


	4. chapter 4

Saving Zechs  
  
By Tira Yuy  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
~~~~Chapter four~~~~  
  
Staring out the window where he had just dropped one of Sally's cameras Wufei felt like kicking himself. He had been standing in the windowsill and just gotten a perfect picture of the face of the man from before, when he heard Myrtle's exclaim about some girl being perfect for him and lost his balance. He figured that he could get a good picture of the man from this angle without being spotted due to how little attention the man had been paying to his surroundings but he had not counted on dropping the camera.  
  
'Must have dropped it as I fell onto the bed,' he thought looking at the smashed camera laying near a rock. The film hanging out of the camera left no hope of retrieving the picture.  
  
"Wufei?!" Sally yelled as she entered the room with Mrs. Drake close behind.  
  
Looking at the fold-out army-style bed that was broken and laying in the center of the floor,Sally wondered what had happened.  
  
"I tripped and fell on it," Wufei said noticing what she was looking at. It was partly true. The cot had broken his fall onto the floor.   
  
"I thought you were out," Myrtle said in puzzlement and hoped Wufei had not heard her talking about Violet. Considering how his date with Erma had turned out she did not think he would go on another blind date with out quite a bit of convincing. 'Though I still don't understand what was wrong with Erma,' she thought of the sweet girl who is her pastor's daughter.   
  
Sally tried to think of an explanation, "I called your name when I got in, why didn't you respond?" she asked Wufei knowing he would come up with the rest.  
  
"I must have still been asleep." Wufei yawned, "The bed collapsing woke me up."  
  
"I thought you tripped over it," Myrtle said looking at how Wufei's hair was neatly pulled back in its usual style.  
  
'For being Cupid's worst helper, she does notices things,' Wufei thought grudgingly. "I tripped while trying to put it back up and then it really broke."  
  
Myrtle just nodded at this and Wufei was thankful that she did not ask any more questions.  
  
There was a moment of silence before Sally said, "Do you need anything, Mrs. Drake?"  
  
"Oh, no deary," Myrtle said as she shook her head. "But it looks like you do. I have a spare room that I keep fully furnished for whenever my sister visits. There is a perfectly good bed in there, why don't you and Wufei come by and get it? I sure wish I had known you children didn't even have a decent bed to sleep on, or I would have offered it before now."  
  
"Are you sure?" Sally asked, hoping to get the nosy, but well-meaning, woman out the door. According to their instructions, she or Wufei was supposed to be watching the building across the street at all times. Fifteen minutes had already gone by without either of them watching.  
  
"Yes! My sister won't be visiting any time soon so it's not getting used. With our houses only a few feet apart, no one has to fool with taking it apart to move and then putting it back together."   
  
"How big is the bed?" Wufei asked. The idea of moving a king sized, or even twin sized, bed was not appealing to him.  
  
"It's a day bed." Sticking out her lower lip in thought Myrtle frowned. "Since it's rather narrow I'll let you take the trundle that goes underneath so both you and Sally have a good night's rest."   
  
Smiling once again Myrtle looked at Wufei with admiration, she went on with her prattle, "Wufei is so strong that we shouldn't have any trouble moving it at all. It's such a shame more men aren't taking better care of them selves and getting in shape..." Pausing Myrtle looked over at the computer resting on a desk in the corner of the room. "But with you working at home all day on that machine, it's amazing how you manage."  
  
Not sure how the conversation had gotten to his physical well being, Wufei thought of a quick excuse. "There was a gym down the street from our last place, and I went there every morning."   
  
"Well, we'll just have to find another gym near here for you," Myrtle said sympathetically. She knew it was never easy moving to a new place; trying to make new friends and find your way around could be really hard. Myrtle felt sorry for the young Chinese man, to spend most of your day in a house by yourself was truly lonely, she knew from her own experance.   
  
It was nice that he had a good older sister like Sally, but she could not emigan that being enough for any hot blooded man. 'If Wufei can't go to where the women are I'll just have to breing them to him,' thought, not for the first time since she had met her charming new neighbors.   
  
Glancing over out the window, Sally started to get antsy to be waving good bye to Myrtle.   
  
"Wufei, why don't you get the bed, and I'll start on dinner?"  
  
Thinking about Sally's promised rice balls, Wufei nodded. He might as well go get the bed and try to think of a way to keep Mrs. Drake from siccing Violet on him.  
  
As Wufei walked with Myrtle to her house, he wondered why he and Sally were stuck with the cover of being brother and sister while Noin and Heero had the easy task of playing husband and wife on a honeymoon in one of the best vacationing spots in space.  
  
*L4 hospital*  
  
Walking down the hall to Heero's room, Noin felt a bit relieved and a bit anxious. After twenty-four hours of being in the hospital, he was being discharged.  
  
"Mr. Travoni!" The shout came from a room Noin was passing, as she peeked in she saw a man in his late fifties laughing as a red-headed nurse turned around, blushing with embarrassment.   
  
"That joke was... IS... just uh-," the nurse's face started to look more like her hair as she stuttered to describe what she thought of the older man's joke.   
  
Sensing someone watching her, she looked up. "Oh, Mrs. Lowe." Relieved to have the chance to change the subject, the nurse quickly walked over to Noin. "There are a few forms you need to fill out before your husband can leave."  
  
Recognizing the girl as the one who gave her directions to Heero's room the day before, Noin politely smiled at her. "Hello. where are they?"  
  
"Right this way," she said before leading Noin to the nurses' station.   
  
She leaned over the counter top that encircled some computers and grabbed a handful of paper. "Lets see, you already took care of most of this..." She searched through the pile for the right form.  
  
Feeling a bit talkative Noin asked, "Do you get many patients like Mr. Travoni?"   
  
Flushing at the mere mention of the man with a very perverted since of humor, the nurse shook her head. "Thankfully, I've never had to deal with men like him coming in and out all the time. But I've hear quit a few horror stories during lunch about how some of the male patience can get. You'd think with them being sick they wouldn't have the energy to tell bad jokes and grope at the nurses."   
  
Noin felt sympathy for the younger woman. She looked like a real sweetheart and Noin was gratful for all of the help she had given her.  
  
"It's a miracle he wasn't killed in that car crash, but instead of thanking his lucky stars he's alive and trying to straighten himself out, he just bribes orderlies to smuggle him some beer to celebrate." Pausing to read a sheet of paper she smiled triumphantly. "Here it is!"  
  
"Car crash?" Noin asked as she took the offered paper.  
  
"Mhhm. He ran his taxi cab right into the police station, just a few blocks from the Winner shopping center. He was so drunk that if the man riding in the back had gotten killed he would be up on manslaughter charges."  
  
Trying to keep composed, Noin pulled out a pen from her pocket. 'Winner shopping center, Heero was in the car crash while taking a taxi to meet me there.' Without any doubt that the rude Mr. Travoni was the man driving Heero, Noin wondered what she should do about it, if anything.   
  
The nurse let out a gasp. "Oh, Mrs. Lowe how horrable of me!" She said in a truly repentent tone of voice. "If you wanted to press charges against Mr. Travoni for reckles indangerment a police officer was sappose to let you know that that's an option. But to protect all of the pationts I wasn't sappose to let you know who the man was or where he is."  
  
Noin would have liked to press charges, if nothing else it would be one way to make sure that Mr. Travoni did not cause any more trouble. But it would mean putting the mission on hold for far too long. 'No, it just cann't be done for now.'   
  
"Don't worry," Noin said putting a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "It was a slip up and I won't tell anyone about it."  
  
The Nurse shook her head. " It was just horrable of me to have been complaining about him to you..."  
  
Noin just patted the woman's shoulder and then with drew her hand. "Don't worry about it."  
  
Having been so focused on how she was going to carryout the mission while Heero did not even know he was once a gundam pilot, she had not even considered the event that led to the situation. 'If it's so amazing that the driver is still alive could it have been a well planned out way to kill Heero?'   
  
If that was the case, then the terrorist were already expecting them.  
  
"Excuse me, I'll finish filling these out after I see Odin again," Noin said.  
  
Nodding at Noin, the redhead was then distracted by a fellow nurse and did not notice that Noin was heading for the bathrooms and not Mr. Lowe's room.  
  
"Dorothy pick up," Noin hissed into her phone after hearing the beep of Dorothy's answering machine.  
  
Glancing under the doors of the two stalls for any possible eavesdroppers. An olde article that she had read a week ago crossed her mind as she relized that even only a mere five years ago cell phones had been banned from hospitals due to the fact that they messed with medical equipment. 'Thank you scienctific advancement.'  
  
When no one picked up Noin sighed. "I need you to do me a favor, look up a Mr. Travoni. I don't know his first name, but he lives here on L4 and is a taxi driver. This guy could have tried to kill Heero so be sure to do a thorough job and make sure that all the records aren't really good fakes. I'll contact you again in 16 hours from L3."  
  
Flipping her phone closed, Noin once again headed for Heero's room, this time wondering if she should be calling off the mission for his safety.  
  
*Earth; Dorothy's home*   
  
"Dorothy?" Relena called out as she entered her friend's office. She had been waiting on the patio for Dorothy so they could eat lunch, but when the taller girl took too long finishing up some last minute business, Relena came in looking for her.  
  
Seeing the red light on Dorothy's phone flashing, she came closer to the desk and saw that the light was to signal that a message had been left.   
  
"Hey Dorothy! You have a phone message!" Relena shouted out.  
  
"Check it for me!" Dorothy shouted back, her voice coming from inside the bathroom adjoined to her office.  
  
Sighing Relena hit the right button and listened to Noin's message.  
  
"So, who was it?" Dorothy asked from the bathroom. "Relena?"  
  
But there was no response from the now empty room. 


	5. Saving Zechs 5

Saving Zechs  
  
By Tira Yuy  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
~~~~~Chapter five~~~~~   
  
The room was tidy and rather colorless, Heero observed as he took in the small room. Everything was either white, ivory, or sage. It struck him as being dull and rather depressing.   
  
"Odin Lowe." The name came out hesitantly.  
  
Looking down at the sage-colored blanket covering his legs, he saw that the thin blanket looked as foreign to him as his own hands.   
  
His left hand was in a cast that went up to his elbow; his right one however was exposed to his examination.  
  
The skin had a bit of a tan. "Do I like being in the outdoors?" he asked out loud wishing there was someone in the room to answer his question.  
  
His nails were short and jagged. "Do I have the habit of biting my nails?" He quickly rejected that idea; the thought of someone having that kind of habit projected an image of a lack of self control and of nervousness. Heero was not fond of the idea of having either of those characteristics.  
  
'What habits *do* I have?' he now question silently of himself.  
  
Not knowing who he was, any of his habits, or usual thoughts was maddening.   
  
He felt as though he had been trapped on an island for so long that he had no knowledge of the outside world.   
  
Turning his head sideways, Heero had a glimpse of the sky through the window. The blue was lighter than Noin's eyes in color, but still brought the attractive woman to the front of his thoughts.  
  
She had been obviously upset, but had the looks of a woman who was usually well-groomed and use to being in control.  
  
If he was an ignorant tourist, she was his guide.   
  
She was the only key he had to any of his old thoughts, life, or others important to him. With her being his wife, she probably knew a great deal about him.  
  
When Heero had woken up and had seen her, it was like seeing the most beautiful thing in the world.   
  
Then he had taken note of how worried and upset she was. The rims of her eyes had been red from crying, but the worry and concern that was captured in those sapphire eyes had pulled at his hearts strings. As confused as he had been to wake up in the strange room, when he had seen her he felt as though he should comfort her. But the only thing that he could think of to do was to reach his hand out and ask her to stay with him for a while longer.  
  
Now as he ran the scene over and over in his mind, it struck him that the pain she was suffering from was due to worrying over him and his well-being.  
  
"Impossible," Heero murmured out loud. Why should anyone care about *him*? Somehow the thought of someone caring that deeply for him felt even more foreign than his hand.   
  
'But why shouldn't she?' His mind now questioned. 'She is your wife,' one part of his mind pointed out to him.   
  
The image of Noin with her rumpled clothes, messed short black hair, and deep blue eyes was a vision of a unique loveliness, but to him what stuck out most was the look of devotion on her face before leaving his room. As she had left, with her clipped, steady, and long steps, he felt as though she were a woman on a mission who would not give up for anything.  
  
If it were at all possible for her to care so deeply for him, for that devotion to be directed at him, then he must be the luckiest man alive, memory loss or not.   
  
The tapping at his door drew him out of his thoughts.  
  
Noin stuck her head into the room and looked at Heero. The bandage around his head had been removed but his arm was still in a cast.   
  
As she walked into the room, Noin could not take her eyes off of it. 'If they know we're coming and have already tried killing Heero, should I be doing this?' Noin wondered.  
  
Heero suddenly took on the look of someone she should be protecting, not asking to risk his neck for her and Zechs.  
  
'Heero already agreed,' one part of her mind reasoned. 'And it's not just for Zechs but everybody who is at that resort. When Heero is back to normal he'll agree I did the right thing,' Noin concluded.  
  
Watching Noin from his bed, Heero wondered what exactly had her eyes so tense and lost in thought.  
  
'You dummy,' that voice in the back of his mind said. 'She's your wife who was on her way to her honeymoon when her husband lost his mind. What do you think she's upset over?'   
  
Pushing his thoughts away, Heero put his full focus on Noin and said the first thing that came to mind. "Penny for your thoughts."  
  
Sitting down into the chair still next to Heero's bed, Noin pulled out the paperwork from her purse. Was this the chance to explain things to Heero?   
  
'How do I tell him?' she wondered as she fiddled with her pen.  
  
'Oh yeah, just blurt out "you are a hero by the name Heero and are suppose to be helping me save the man I love while pretending to be my husband." Why don't you?' Noin looked at Heero as he waited for her to reply.  
  
'And if anyone overhears, you run the risk of your cover definitely being blown instead of just worrying about whether or not that has already happened.' No, now was not the time.   
  
"Just wondering if our insurance will cover everything." Noin hoped that her words did not come out sounding as being as dumb to him as they were to her own ears.  
  
Feeling guilty for being so much trouble, Heero wished he could take the paper from her and fill it out himself. Or better yet, not have gotten in that taxi cab that landed him here in the first place.   
  
Then a question came to mind, "Why were we riding in two different cabs?" Heero asked of Noin.  
  
Not knowing what had brought that question on Noin shrugged. She had not counted on explaining why newlyweds would be riding in two different taxi cabs on their way to their honeymoon.  
  
The real reason had been that she had to get the false paperwork in order and make some last minute reservations at the resort. She would have given Heero his passport and ID before boarding their shuttle to L3 had things gotten off to a better start. Instead, when Noin had been heading for her and Heero's rendezvous point she got held up because of a car wreck and the plain had gone all wrong from there.   
  
She later fond out it was Heero's wrecked taxi cab that was holding up trafic.  
  
However, she had already decided this was not the place to explain the truth to Heero and racked her brain for something believable.   
  
"I had left somethings behind, you went back to get them while I went ahead to get our luggage aboard."   
  
Thinking this over, other questions came to mind, where did they live? Were they from this colony or another one in the L4 cluster? Where were all of their friends and family that attended their wedding? Just how long had he been married to her, a few hours or days before the wreck?  
  
Dark blue eyes becoming intense as he was lost in thought. He was not aware of how his facial expressions were affecting Noin.  
  
'Did he not believe me?' Noin questioned herself as Heero's thick eyebrows pulled together in contemplation.   
  
She wanted to just rush through the paperwork so she could get Heero out of here and set him straight on a few things. Like his whole identity.   
  
Turning the chair so she faced the wall and small window, Noin put the paper against the wall and started filling out the information. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Heero was still deep in thought.  
  
"Tell me everything," Heero's deep voice finally requested when he could not settle on just a handful of questions he wanted answered. At the site of Noin frowning he said, "Everything that you can right now."   
  
Looking into Heero's blue eyes, the old saying "The eyes are the windows to the soul" drifted through Noin's mind.  
  
Heero's eyes were expressing all of his feelings at that moment.   
  
He was confused and eager to know all that she could tell him. He looked partly like a lost child depending completely on her, and partly like a young man determined to stand on his own feet, even if he did need to ask a few questions first.  
  
'Can he possibly carry out this mission?' Noin's more critical part asked. But another part of her desperately wanted to tell Heero the truth, so that the man in him could judge for himself how to act.  
  
If she told him the truth and he was too scared in his condition, she would be giving a death sentence to those at the resort. Depending on how powerful those missiles were, possibly everyone on that colony would be doomed as well.  
  
'But what if he still wants to do it?' another part of her questioned. 'He still knows how to do most of the things he could do before, including taking apart missiles,' and Noin did not know of another human being capable of doing that job. She could not risk Zechs or anybody else's life by telling Heero everything right away. But did she have the right to toy with Heero's life?   
  
'I'm not toying with it!' she riled against her conscience. 'He already agreed to do it! I'm just making him stick to that promise.'  
  
Licking her lips, Noin began to fill Heero in on all the details she had made up to be a part of their cover. 


End file.
